We may have seen enough of console Prince to say "Screw you!" to fantasy archetypes, "Let the Sands get in our shorts for all we care!," but that wouldn't portray our rosiest point of character.  We'd rather suck down some more Persian content with an appetite for tradition banging fork and knife against table.  Who wouldn't want to be the brash, bruised, bawdy adventurist for another chapter?  Luckily, for those who agree, another prophetic staple in our mythological diet shall soon be punched and satisfied.  Our beloved Prince of Persia responds to such a calling with an attractive, artistic ink of a new story-telling generation and plot folds ready to unfurl.  If you were psyched be the previous installments you shan't be disappointed, hopefully, by this upcoming performance piece that has stolen gamers' attention, stolen developers' sleep, and afforded franchise enthusiasts new levels of insomnia.  How could one sleep when the fated sequel is to come?  Prince of Persia 4 by Ubisoft shall dwell upon its own super-standard that is reforming video game standards and the game’s own insatiable ambition.  Fans, surely, should be pleased.

          One of the most distinguishable aspects of the fourth Prince of Persia chapter is that of the new art direction.  Previously, valiant developmental efforts had always reigned and produced aesthetics worthy of genuine appreciation among gaming communities.  Of course the effects had neither the innovation nor the consummation of technical resources to send each viewer into visual spasms, but the Prince of Persia games always demanded moderate respect for their concept art team's products and implementation.  However, this mold of simply notable but equaled graphics has let down its hair for new trendiness - cel-shading.  What would impress the player before - modest quality use of texturing and applaudible modeling - shall distract with admirable artistry in this sequel.  The fourth Prince of Persia adopts characters designed after literal concept art and pastel coloring. Environments receive standard palettes of Persian realism.  In a way this addition resembles an animated film in such that: the main characters possess obvious traits of hand-sketched designs and application, backgrounds are more realistically formed with usual textures and mapping, and both interact as if they are of the same art style.  The contrast, resembling a Paper Mario/Viewtiful Joe hybrid given performance enhancers, simply awes with the first viewing.  This unusually steered direction is deliberate and risky, defying the series' tradition.  It foots an infrequently travelled path and should and shall be loved for it.

          So our prince doesn't simply get a facial but gets a background wipe and check too.  Indeed, our familiar knight in not-so shining armor (in fact, he seems to lose clothing the further he proceeds in a game) is a completely different He-Man altogether.  He's, coincidentally, a new prince of Persia, of course.  Ubisoft strikes new ground once again and cuts our old favorite character from the roster, bumping a new protagonist recruit into the epic ranks.  Persia has found a new deliverer, it seems.  Sidling alongside our plotted and destined newcomer arrives his feministic sidekick who accompanies him on his trying travels.  This second-seat "shotgun" rider fills multiple roles for both the prince and the player.  She acts as the story's primary narrator and game progression tool and technique, for one.  Key events revolve around her involvement in the story with our lead man, delivering companioning plot explanations, cinematic verbalisms, puzzle implications, and directional pressures for the player's understanding of where to proceed throughout the world.  Her function extends to aiding in combat abilities, striking a balance between executable practicality and purposeful plot delivery.  The heroine spoken of keeps company with the player through the majority of the game, becoming a creative, cooperative, and convenient game component.  Her presence becomes that of a second figurehead.

          Such discussion leads to the subject of combat.  Prince of Persia "4" invests in yet an alternate habitual fork.  Death-defying combat no longer uses acrobatics with a one-trick pony flare.  You won’t flip over an enemy and stab, kick off a wall to flip over an enemy and stab, run along a passageway to flip over an enemy and stab, jump off a banister to flip over an enemy and stab, swing from a rod to flip over an enemy and stab...  Those days are gone.  This newest release focuses instead on less numerous sand baddies, pseudo-cinematic infused dueling, and trading of offensive and defensive positions.  Charting combo smashers like a Viking with a trigger finger is a twitch reflex of the past and is abandoned here.   Instead the player engages in multiple, epically staged duels throughout Ubisoft's release that concentrates on working around a single opponent’s defenses, choosing the best strike patterns and stances to cut their monsters' guards, parrying foes' attack strikes for pointed counter-attacks, keeping your character (realistically) in the position of frontal assault, and tactful, seat-of-the-pants retaliations based upon the prince's opponent's weak openings.  Opportune moments are golden eggs sought after for cracking ripostes.  These measures of change supposedly were taken by the developers to intensify the players' sense of epic purpose and vulnerability to his or her evil peers, Prince's nemeses.  The female lead previously mentioned is brought into the prince's duels as well, supplying her own abilities to be called upon for unique strings of flourishes, flurries, and magic-based attacks.  Fighting's scope is tamed and reeled in from the franchise's previous titles; at the same time its climaxes have grow to questionably conceivable proportions.   Such heightens combat's appeal overall.

          As always, however, enemies are seldom found simply in one-on-one combat situations.  In actuality, they are more often witnessed throughout the maneuverable terrain for the prince to stub toes on.  Prince of Persia 4 relies on similar "booby trap", splinter-pinching, environmental caltrops that gave the previous installments their signature pangs of pain.  Our protagonist wouldn't be as interesting if he needn't or couldn't loop over walls, skip over stalagmites, play footsie with saw blades, and hopscotch over floor spikes.  So the traps are still around.  The thing swapped out of them like exchangeable parts is their physical makeup.  Instead of avoiding cliffs, ledges, and tines the player must work his or her way around creatures of the same function.  Sand creatures hover along walls when the player reaches their respective area.  Abominations stick in the middle of the player's path when he or she would most appreciate moving and breathing room.  The hinted reason for this simple visual redesign lies in the game's plot.  Said player is tasked (or taxed…) with returning the world map to its previous natural beauty.  That said, it becomes obvious why Ubisoft would change the prince's most accustomed-to foes from mechanical to biological – it fills a story void and at least is a tweak different from the predictable norm established in the series.  Either way calls for more acrobatic supremacy, so hey, I sure won't object.

          A subject such as acrobatics raises a couple interesting "to know's" as well.  Our main man looses his tale with the most "How the...?", "Did he just...?", "Holy shitake!" stunts playable to date.  This new prince opens both doors with a proud entrance this time and does so with a nimbler foot than thought possible.  It truly is a sight.  Players, instead of of-the-past wall hopping and old hat stone running, will be stringing more unconventional, anti-gravity, flight simulator reminiscent strings of daft deftness than witnessed in any other game.  The options menu should honestly offer the player a parachute.  Ceiling running is the famous child of new abilities included this time around.  Such chainable abilities are given heavy use as well, being tested stringently through the game's aptly named "highway" system of map navigation.  The player is given different hub locations to explore with due attention and plentiful paths leading from those hubs to various other hubs across the game world.  From these hubs the same concept is applied and a “connect the dots” effect is formed; each "dot" has multiple lines/passageways leading to and from it.  In this manner linear gameplay is avoided to negate yawnable repetition. However, the single purpose, singular layout nature of maneuverable passages is conserved for the sake of playability.  Open ranges of terrain, freely navigable, would defeat the play-style character of the game.  The given conclusion satisfies both balanced non-linear and linear desires.  What results is a system built around hotspots and arriving at them through different means.  Sounds fun enough, right?

          So saving the world this time around shan't be daunting when new toys are to be had.  Players may brandish new combat, trapeze defiance, hero arrivals, lively trip-ups, a handywoman sidekick, or eye-popping eye candy in this unreleased version of our prince and his Persia.  Reliable favorites in the franchise are here to stay like combat, acrobatics, and art.  They've been given implants though, of course.  The results are far from disagreeable, I dare say.  Hearsay suggests new leaps and bounds (/pun) unleashed in nearly every aspect of this game over the efforts put forth in the prequels but all that truly can be done is wait in silent rapture.  If you enjoyed the previous editions it is guaranteed from first impressions alone that this one will prove no less satisfying.  This is one of those situations where if you have doubts about the game's success then you shouldn't be considering it in the first place.  Let the loyal fans share it between themselves instead.